Dance With Me Tonight
by The ORIGINAL Corky
Summary: Donatello spends a few quiet moments to himself after discovering his wife’s pregnancy and reflects on the night they first met. TMNT: Family Ties Series One Shot


**Disclaimer:** I sadly still do not own any of the turtles…just lots and lots of their merchandise. I also don't own the song "Dance With Me Tonight"…not sure who owns that really…lost my case for my "Music and Lyrics" soundtrack and I'm too lazy to look it up. I do however personally know the guy playing saxophone on that track…Mr. Sam Albright :cheesy grin: So now you people can say you know a person who's friends with a guy who used to work with the guy who plays on a track from a movie! I only know Sam…I'm not actually friends with him…I am however friends with :blinks a few times and shakes head: never mind…who I'm friends with isn't important, what's important is the fact that I don't own that song or Sam either. I'm just barrowing both of them for a brief moment in my story…and I highly doubt Sam will care so it's all good. :bigger cheesy grin:

**Author's Note:** This story is dedicated to Midoriko (you know who you are you crazy girl you!) and anyone else who has been dying to read about how Donnie met Julie. This story takes place four years prior to "Honor Bound"...one of these days I'll get around to posting everyone's ages at the time stories take place on my profile page...when I do, I'll let you all know! Anyways...enough talk! Enjoy!!

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:Donnie's POV:

I didn't even want to go to The Rocky Street Grill that night. I would have much rather have been holed up in my room or lab playing with my gadgets and gizmos or fixing Angela's laptop…again…for the 1800th time. The girl was notorious for dropping, kicking, and all around abusing her little Dell computer and it's always up to me to make sure it never crashes—which is not an easy task when it's already crammed pack with downloaded songs and movies and Angie insists on getting more. It really is a miracle that Raph is able to put up with her. Of course, I have the feeling the reason he asked me to go with him that night was because his patience with Angela was growing thin and instead of blowing his top at her, he opted for the far less violent approach…bar hopping.

True, it's not easy for us to go out and mingle with the rest of New York City but with a little help from clothes, hats, sunglasses, completely uncomfortable shoes, and dimly light bars it's not exactly impossible to at least somewhat fit in. With that being said, Raphael is our resident expert on the bar hopping scene of New York, and strangely enough has been since he was a teenager. He tried to hide it, but we all knew when Raph had been out enjoying himself around the city at sixteen or seventeen. He would come back reeking of booze and cigarettes, stumbling over his own two feet, and a temper even shorter than it normally was. It wasn't until he was nearly annihilated by a group of meandering Foot Soldiers at nineteen as he blindly stumbled out of a bar that he realized the error of his ways and vowed to stop drinking—well, at least stop drinking as much.

That night though, he came into my lab as I sat tinkering and rescuing as many of Angie's files as I could before wiping the hard-drive clean, and informed me – not asked me, informed me – I was going out for a night on the town with him. It's a well known fact that of my brothers I am second to last in line to be the likely candidate to go out 'clubbing' and certainly not first in line to be the one to go with Raph. I wondered for a moment why he didn't go and ask Mike to go with him since those two were closer than Raph and I had ever and probably would ever be. Of course I then remembered that Mikey didn't particularly like the idea of leaving Gwen alone at night since she still suffered from horrendous nightmares. I tried hard to decline from his persistent offer, but as I saw him reach for one of my latest mechanical upgrades for the battle shell (despite the fact it hadn't been used in well over a year, I still liked to play with it and improve things on it), and knew that his threat of breaking it into hundreds of little pieces was anything but empty, I changed my mind and decided it was in my best interest to go along with him.

Both of us clad in oversized pairs of blue jeans, tennis shoes, and jackets, we made our way up to street level. Apparently there was a new bar not too far away Raph had been dying to check out and figured our little trip topside was the perfect time. The Rocky Street Grill had opened a month or two prior and was supposed to be the newest hot-spot in Midtown. To me that wasn't very encouraging, but for Raph that was the equivalent to hearing he'd just won two hundred bucks.

The building it was in was rather simple enough; typical red and brown bricks, two windows near the door with thick steal rods over them, posters and flyers for upcoming events and bands covered most of the door, and a neon red sign above the entrance spelled out its name. Inside the bar was a slightly different story. Due to the fact that it was also a food establishment for the majority of the day, booths and tables lined the walls and floor all the way up to a small stage. The walls were painted a dark shade of blue with movie posters, glowing alcoholic beverage signs of all shapes and colors, music memorabilia and other such objects scattered across them. The bar itself was located on the wall directly opposite the door which gave Raph and I plenty of space to move to the far back corner and stay hidden within the shadows.

For the majority of the night, I tried my hardest to blend in with the other patrons while Raph would order drinks from the waitress as she bounced like a trapped pin-ball from table to table. There was a band playing that night called 'Smooth' who were fairly decent. Of course given the fact that they were playing mostly classic rock cover tunes, my ears were naturally attuned to listen. They took a break from their classic cover songs to let their guitar player step up and sing a song. Glancing up for just a moment from my second half empty bottle of beer, my eyes locked on the most amazingly beautiful woman I'd ever seen. Aphrodite and Artemis themselves could not compare to her natural beauty. She had the most pristine white skin, like fresh cream, and hair an enchanting shade of red with the softest curls tumbling down over her shoulders. A pair of small framed sunglasses covered her eyes which only seemed right given how bright the lights on that stage had to have been.

I hadn't heard the song she began to sing, but it didn't matter, her voice sounded like the sweetest of angels.

"It's been so long  
Since I've known right from wrong  
Got no job, sometimes I just sit down and sob  
Wondering if anything will go right  
Or will you dance with me tonight

When the sun departs  
I feel a hole down in my heart  
Put on some shoes  
Come down here and listen to the blues  
Wondering if anything will go right  
Or will you dance with me tonight

I'm looking at you  
You're looking at me  
We're the only two off the dance floor  
Do you see what I see  
Two broken lives working in harmony  
Might make for a decent time  
So get up and dance with me

I know that it seems that the grass will grow  
Better on the other side of the barb wire fence  
But that other side is not in sight  
So I'm fine with what I have now  
If you'll dance with me tonight

What's the point of life  
If risk is just a board game  
You roll the dice  
But you're just hoping that the rules change  
What's the point if you can't bring yourself to say  
Things you wanna say like  
Dance with me tonight"

I couldn't take my eyes off her as she sang. She was looking right at me, some way somehow she was able to see me in the back and had locked onto me. For the first time ever I felt my heart skip beats and my stomach do flips. So this is what Mike felt whenever he was around Gwen, no wonder it could drive a turtle crazy.

The song ended and I felt myself rise from my chair, clapping and cheering excitedly.

"Our Stevie Wonder of guitar ladies and gentlemen!! Give it up for Julie Alexander!" the blond man to her left who had been playing saxophone said into his microphone. I watched as Julie smiled and laughed, cautiously reaching out for the microphone again.

"That's Sam Albright on saxophone; let him know he's loved." She joked back into the mike.

She was blind? Well, I supposed that was a point in favor for me then. I felt Raph start to get up from the table, he had been ready to leave then, but I wasn't. I had wanted to stay and watch more of Julie and her band.

It was nearly two a.m. by the time Smooth was done playing and the bar was getting ready to close. Raph and I slipped out just as silently and mysteriously as we had slipped in and I couldn't help but stand in the shadows and wait to see Julie come out again. It wasn't that long of a wait; not even two minutes later I saw her carefully emerge, soft guitar case slung over one shoulder while in her left hand she held the reigns for a German shepherd dog. Even in the dim lights from the street lights above she was beautiful. I wanted to go up and talk to her, tell her how much I enjoyed her show and how fantastic she was on the guitar, but my shyness overtook me and left me standing in the shadows like a love sick puppy.

I couldn't help but wonder who or what she was waiting for as she stood completely still at the edge of the sidewalk. It was obvious she didn't feel comfortable enough to walk home—wherever home was—and that she was in need of a ride. I could hear Raph tugging the manhole cover off of its resting place and start to head down into the sewers.

"Ya comin' Don or ya jist plannin' on stayin' up 'ere all night?"

I sighed heavily as I heard his gruff and slightly slurred whisper. Stealing one last glance at Julie, I turned to start down into the sewers also. I had just gotten my feet in when I heard unfamiliar voices approach her.

"Hey there beautiful…how much you askin' for to have some fun tonight?"

"Get lost creep."

"Ooooh…feisty! That's ok…I like my women feisty."

I looked up and felt my blood begin to boil. A gang of about six or seven street thugs had surrounded her and were slowly inching their way closer to her. I watched for a moment more and when I saw one of them reach out to touch her hair I sprang from the sewer hole like a rocket and went rushing towards them.

I'm still not sure which ones I managed to take out before Raph joined in on the 'royal head-busting' I was doing, all I remember is the look on Julie's face when she realized she'd just been saved by two total strangers. It didn't take Raph or me long to convince the thugs that they didn't want to try and fight us back, or that they didn't want to mess with Julie.

As I slowly turned back to Julie, I saw that she was struggling to figure out where exactly to 'look'. Feeling warmth flood my cheeks, I gave a hesitant smile and chuckle.

"They uh…they won't be bothering you again, ma'am." I said rather nervously.

"Please don't call me ma'am…I'm nineteen…ma'am makes me feel old. But thank you all the same."

She talked to me! A goddess of beauty actually spoke…to me! I felt as if I were going to make a total idiot of myself I was so nervous. Chuckling again, I smiled and shrugged.

"Y-you're welcome. Um…I'm Donnie…you uh…you sounded really great. You're an amazing guitar player."

Then it happened, she gave me the most dazzling smile in the world. My life in that instant changed forever.

"Thank you, Donnie. I'm Julie, it's nice to meet you."

"Yo, Don…we gotta go." Raph called from the shadows. I glanced back at him and then at the streets as I heard sirens coming towards us. Looking back at Julie I smiled once more.

"Nice to meet you too, Julie. Uh…I gotta go now but…I'll keep an eye on this place and come back to see you again."

I had wanted to kiss her cheek and dart back into the darkness, but the quickly approaching sirens changed my mind and I quickly found myself diving down into the sewers before they could reach us.

True to my word, I went back every night that Smooth had played The Rocky Street Grill and stayed long enough to see Julie safely to her waiting ride at the end of the night.

That had been nearly five years ago though, and now as I lie in bed next to her, those same soft and silky curls sprayed out across my plastron as she sleeps with her head on my chest, I can't believe that I hadn't wanted to go out that night. In a way I owe Raph far more than I could ever begin to think of repaying him. If it hadn't been for his persistence in getting me to go out with him I never would have met Julie, we never would have gotten married, and we most certainly would not be expecting our first child together.

Gently kissing her head, I close my eyes and smile softly as I wrap a protective arm around her stomach and quickly fall into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
